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Hard drive reformat/OS Reinstall help

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Greetings, I ran a security scan with Malware Bytes on my laptop, it came up with "Backdoor.bot" after some research I figured this would be a good time to reformat my hard drive and reinstall the OS (Windows 8.1), (only God knows what other stuff could be lurking around) never done this before, any advice? How will I get a new copy of windows? Can copying files to a flash drive somehow also copy the Backdoor? 

Any help would be greatly appreciated.
 
(P.s. My replies will be sporadic)

† † †

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
    That mark our place; and in the sky
    The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
 
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
    Loved and were loved, and now we lie,
        In Flanders fields.
 
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
    The torch; be yours to hold it high.
    If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
        In Flanders fields.

 

 

Cry havoc and let slip the Togs of war.  (Signature V3)

 

If you want me to reply, tag me @Tog Driver, Or quote me.

 

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
‭‭II Corinthians‬ ‭13:14

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Posted

It might carry over the virus. Just to check, you tried quarantining the problem, right? If that didn't work, wipe the whole drive and ONLY keep your most important files that you are sure are free of malware, which can be checked quickly by doing a scan on just those files. As for your new copy of Windows, you should have a sticker on the back of your laptop that gives your Windows key. What you should be using your flash drive for is installing the Windows 10 media off of the Windows website.

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15 minutes ago, Gungpae said:

if it's a laptop, then it should have a factory reset. What laptop do you have?

I never made a reset drive or anything (was to cheap to buy a 16 GB USB drive, real smart of me, I know) it is an Acer Aspire E15 I got in 2013 I think

† † †

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
    That mark our place; and in the sky
    The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
 
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
    Loved and were loved, and now we lie,
        In Flanders fields.
 
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
    The torch; be yours to hold it high.
    If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
        In Flanders fields.

 

 

Cry havoc and let slip the Togs of war.  (Signature V3)

 

If you want me to reply, tag me @Tog Driver, Or quote me.

 

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
‭‭II Corinthians‬ ‭13:14

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1 minute ago, TheClueLessMajority said:

I never made a reset drive or anything (was to cheap to buy a 16 GB USB drive, real smart of me, I know) it is an Acer Aspire E15 I got in 2013 I think

Do what @Firecheetah13 suggested

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35 minutes ago, Firecheetah13 said:

It might carry over the virus. Just to check, you tried quarantining the problem, right? If that didn't work, wipe the whole drive and ONLY keep your most important files that you are sure are free of malware, which can be checked quickly by doing a scan on just those files. As for your new copy of Windows, you should have a sticker on the back of your laptop that gives your Windows key. What you should be using your flash drive for is installing the Windows 10 media off of the Windows website.

It said The removal worked, but during my investigation I remember people saying that if A computer is infected with a backdoor it can never fully be trusted again, plus there could be other things that aren't being detected so I figured better safe than sorry, And I should do and  OS reinstall while I'm at it ( Plus this will help for the whole "63 GB free" problem :P ) and I don't really want to windows 10,  it seemed like everyone said it was either OK or pure crap, I figured that was a lot of potential risk for little potential reward.

 

edit:  also hate to be off topic in my own thread but, do you think the troubleshooting sub forum would be the right place to ask questions about viruses?

† † †

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
    That mark our place; and in the sky
    The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
 
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
    Loved and were loved, and now we lie,
        In Flanders fields.
 
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
    The torch; be yours to hold it high.
    If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
        In Flanders fields.

 

 

Cry havoc and let slip the Togs of war.  (Signature V3)

 

If you want me to reply, tag me @Tog Driver, Or quote me.

 

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
‭‭II Corinthians‬ ‭13:14

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49 minutes ago, TheClueLessMajority said:

It said The removal worked, but during my investigation I remember people saying that if A computer is infected with a backdoor it can never fully be trusted again, plus there could be other things that aren't being detected so I figured better safe than sorry, And I should do and  OS reinstall while I'm at it ( Plus this will help for the whole "63 GB free" problem :P ) and I don't really want to windows 10,  it seemed like everyone said it was either OK or pure crap, I figured that was a lot of potential risk for little potential reward.

 

edit:  also hate to be off topic in my own thread but, do you think the troubleshooting sub forum would be the right place to ask questions about viruses?

I would think so if it is causing problems that you can actually see.

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1 hour ago, Firecheetah13 said:

I would think so if it is causing problems that you can actually see.

Ok, will work with that a bit later,  as for the windows code sticker what does it look like? I took a quick look and didn't see anything,  just Vin number and stuff like that, is it going to say "windows code" or something?

† † †

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
    That mark our place; and in the sky
    The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
 
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
    Loved and were loved, and now we lie,
        In Flanders fields.
 
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
    The torch; be yours to hold it high.
    If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
        In Flanders fields.

 

 

Cry havoc and let slip the Togs of war.  (Signature V3)

 

If you want me to reply, tag me @Tog Driver, Or quote me.

 

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
‭‭II Corinthians‬ ‭13:14

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2 hours ago, TheClueLessMajority said:

Ok, will work with that a bit later,  as for the windows code sticker what does it look like? I took a quick look and didn't see anything,  just Vin number and stuff like that, is it going to say "windows code" or something?

It will be a 25 letter/number code (XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX) and is usually on a reflective foil.

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1 hour ago, Firecheetah13 said:

It will be a 25 letter/number code (XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX) and is usually on a reflective foil.

So, as I turns out, Windows 8 and higher laptops don't have the product key on the bottom. . .

† † †

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
    That mark our place; and in the sky
    The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
 
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
    Loved and were loved, and now we lie,
        In Flanders fields.
 
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
    The torch; be yours to hold it high.
    If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
        In Flanders fields.

 

 

Cry havoc and let slip the Togs of war.  (Signature V3)

 

If you want me to reply, tag me @Tog Driver, Or quote me.

 

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
‭‭II Corinthians‬ ‭13:14

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15 hours ago, TheClueLessMajority said:

So, as I turns out, Windows 8 and higher laptops don't have the product key on the bottom. . .

Is there a way to reset whilst keeping the OS?

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3 hours ago, Firecheetah13 said:

Is there a way to reset whilst keeping the OS?

 Even if there is, I wouldn't really want to do it, I really wanted everything off of the computer to be sure,  from my poking around it would seem that  Windows 8 has the code in the bios and while doing an OS install it will automatically scan the bios to see if there is a code, but I'm not sure I trust my luck that much. . .

† † †

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
    That mark our place; and in the sky
    The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
 
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
    Loved and were loved, and now we lie,
        In Flanders fields.
 
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
    The torch; be yours to hold it high.
    If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
        In Flanders fields.

 

 

Cry havoc and let slip the Togs of war.  (Signature V3)

 

If you want me to reply, tag me @Tog Driver, Or quote me.

 

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
‭‭II Corinthians‬ ‭13:14

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15 minutes ago, TheClueLessMajority said:

 Even if there is, I wouldn't really want to do it, I really wanted everything off of the computer to be sure,  from my poking around it would seem that  Windows 8 has the code in the bios and while doing an OS install it will automatically scan the bios to see if there is a code, but I'm not sure I trust my luck that much. . .

You might as well, I would much rather have to buy a Windows code and be free of malware or viruses. Who knows? You might get lucky.

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1 hour ago, Firecheetah13 said:

You might as well, I would much rather have to buy a Windows code and be free of malware or viruses. Who knows? You might get lucky.

 OK, I have been poking around and found this on the answers.Microsoft.com website " with windows 8/8.1 the product key on preinstalled operating systems (HP,Acer Etc.) is embedded in the bios in the motherboard so that the lost and or worn COS stickers problem is no more.  when you reinstall it will pick up the product key and activate the system automatically"  this sounds like a good news. . .

Edited by TheClueLessMajority

† † †

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
    That mark our place; and in the sky
    The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
 
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
    Loved and were loved, and now we lie,
        In Flanders fields.
 
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
    The torch; be yours to hold it high.
    If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
        In Flanders fields.

 

 

Cry havoc and let slip the Togs of war.  (Signature V3)

 

If you want me to reply, tag me @Tog Driver, Or quote me.

 

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
‭‭II Corinthians‬ ‭13:14

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